I Was An Unfit Kid Too: Activities for Teens Who Hate Exercise

That's the key, find something you enjoy. I was not overweight as a kid, though I wasn't very motivated by being FORCED to take part in sports! I think the way parents raise their children plays a significant part in the child's confidence too. My father was and still is a heavy smoker, I've NEVER seen him exercise ever!!! Hence you can imagine the influence he had upon me as a kid. Though, things are different now, in the early years children often mimic their parents.

I remember reading a study which analysed how smart kids became smart. The study found that the children read a lot of books and coincidentally the parents were also avid readers themselves. The study even showed that if a parent has a book in their hand and they are not even reading, the child will most likely do the same! I wish I could find the study to share here.

I was forced to do sports as a child. I am very grateful today because of it. Wrestling was the best thing to happen to me. It gave me a great base for anything athletic I wanted to do as an adult.

Thanks Dad!

Don't forget dance class! I wasn't one for exercise until just before college, but I spent my teen and childhood years practicing tap, ballet, and other dance forms for classes and shows. The best part was that I was pretty much guaranteed a spot in school musicals and small town productions because they were always in need of people who could actually dance.

I was humiliated in gym class nearly every day I went. I frequently was reduced to tears. Now I don't want to play any sport I ever encountered in gym class ever again.

Gym teachers need to get it through their heads that making the fat/unathletic kids feel like crap will not motivate them to get fitter. It will only teach them to despise physical activity and avoid it at all costs.

(I do exercise most days of the week, but you will NEVER get me to play a sport.)

My mom just kicked me out of the house after school and said "Don't come back till supper time"...So we ran around, climbed trees, rode bikes, played kickball...just kept active one way or another.

As a former fat teen (now a fat guy in his 20s) I found I enjoyed non-Team competitive sports. I didn't mind losing so much, but I hated having my failure effect 4-10 other people. Of course, w/out the team there's less pressure to actually do it often.

Tennis, ping pong, 1on1 basketball, were all pretty enjoyable. Of course, needing a partner, equipment, and a location to do these things were all impediments to exercise.

Cycling and running were both good for me. I have no athletic talent-- coordination and what not-- but I could do those on my own, and everyone's welcome in those sports -- whether you are at the front or the back of the pack. Rollerskating (indoors, where I wouldn't fall before everyone else) was good too, but I've come to realize while the town I grew up in had several rinks, nowhere I've lived since have had any!

I think my saving grace was that as an alternative to typical gym class which was all sports, which I loathed, my school offered a "Live Fit" class, where we did different kinds of aerobics and strength training. If it weren't for that, I would have taken my one gym credit and have been done with it forever. Instead, I took gym for two more years, and got comfortable with different non-sporty athletic activities that I continue to do today.

I was encouraged by my friend in teacher's college when he said his professor for physical education taught them to do activities that are more cooperative than competitive, and activities that kept all the kids moving, not just the already athletic ones.

Gym was pure torture for me. Not because I was overweight, but because I was not athletic in any sense of the word. I had no natural talent for anything in gym. At home I was very active -- rode my bike 10-15 miles every single day, walked a lot, etc. I never lost any weight because of it, but I suppose if I'd been parked in front of Playstation 2 or TV, I might have been obese.

I too was the fat kid in gym class. Loathed running, playing sports, etc. After college, I realized that I wanted to do something about my weight (5'2, 210 lbs = unhealthy) but didn't feel confident enough about joining a gym. Instead, I turned to a good friend and started hiking.

It was so difficult, but it helped tremendously. Especially when you reach the peak of your hike and you can see how far you trekked... amazing! My confidence soared and I knew I was ready for more challenges. Soon after I joined a gym and have lost 65lbs thus far.

Not sure this is for everyone, but I really enjoyed hiking and would recommend as an alternative to gyms.

Hi ! Kids games play a major role on the development of every kid. It is not only a leisure activity but also helps in the growth process of a child. It is very important to choose the right kids game for your child. I have got the most reliable information about activity sheets for kids.

Contrary to you people, I was a fantastic athlete in school! I usually finished top 5 in all my races and did well in obstacle courses. Man up.

I was a fat kid too! Welcome to the fat-kids-who-hated-high-school-gym-class club. Like you, Jan, I am fairly genetically uncoordinated due to some severe eye problems as a kid. I could never hit a baseball, shoot a basketball worth crap, play soccer or kickball, and I always failed all those Standardized Fitness Tests they made you do every year. I never got picked for teams (any gym teacher that chooses two A-hole boy team captains and makes them pick teams deserves to die. Just divide the class in half and be done with it) and I couldn't swim because my mom refused to let me take lessons. In fact, she was very reluctant to play ANY sports because she thought I'd get hurt. What I did like doing as a kid was biking because it was something I could do without feeling awkward or uncoordinated.

When I started getting active again as part of my lifestyle makeover, I started out biking and walking and then I did progress to running. I will probably NEVER play organized sports because yes, I am one of the most uncoordinated people out there and no matter how fit I am, I still always strike out at baseball. Lots of kids really hate organized sports for various reasons and I think it's the job of the parents to help their kids find something they DO like to do...whether it be dancing, biking, swimming, martial arts, gymnastics, running, organized sports, or even just playing DDR or Wii.

such great suggestions.
I wasnt too too overweight as a kid but HIGHLY UNCOORDINATED (still am)...it sucks.

M.

Great post - the key with kids is to get them moving and having fun, no one has to call it fitness. I was also the skinny but uncoordinated kid. But I was outside every recess skipping and playing hopscotch - great exercise. No one at my kids' schools skips anymore, I don't even know where you would buy one of those ropes long enough for double dutch - anyone remember double dutch with 2 ropes? and I did hold the school record for a time...now that's great aerobic exercise.

After school & on weekends when the weather was good enough we were outside all time time. Our family belonged to a sports club, and so did my friends' and so we were swimming, diving, bowling, skating and playing badminton and tennis all the time. I didn't do any of this well but that didn't matter. We were moving.

We belong to the same club now with my kids and I have encouraged them to try everything, I think they are too young to just get slotted into one sport. They are always taking some kind of lessons, plus going to the club with their friends and doing two or three of the activities.

I like to participate in a variety of activities that I find fun (plus I like the long power walks) and I encourage my kids to take the same approach. The club has fitness classes for kids but I think kids really benefit from a varied and less structured approach, they have all kinds of time to discover gyms and circuit training. My son has one afternoon off school every week and we try to go play a game of squash or badminton, we make up different games when we do it. An hour later we are leaving the court sweating and panting but we would never say we "worked out", we just spent some time together playing.

I hated gym class with a passion in middle school. I was extremely uncoordinated and awkward. Pitch a softball at me, there's no chance I could hit it. Ditto with spiking a volleyball, kicking a soccer ball, etc. Worse, we had something called "field day" at the end of each year - where everyone was split up into teams and got incredibly competitive. I let my team down every time.

Oddly enough, I ran track in high school and weight trained and found it to be a vastly different experience. Maybe because coordination or hitting a ball wasn't involved ;)

Hi ! I have got the most reliable information about activities for kids. Playing with clay is a great release of tension. I have often handed a child a block of clay and allowed him or her to work out anger or frustration.

I absolutely agree with finding a certain type of exercise to fit the person. There is no one size fits all mentality when looking for ways to keep people active.

I was never good at any sport I ever tried and was always picked last as the default in any gym class. With running, I had all the grace and acceleration of an overloaded semi. Gym class teaches only one lesson:

Never participate in sports unless you're good at it.

Until I (ironically) blew out my left knee with a blown ACL ligament, I was a lifelong speedwalker. But as a kid, it was my main method of transportation as my family had no car. Too bad my high school didn't have a varsity speedwalking team. The difference would have been like night and day. I was able to walk at 8mph - close to Olympic walking speeds!

I was a gwarky nerd. WORSE GAMES WERE.. rounders and dodge ball. I was either battered or humiliated because i could never EVER hit the darn ball. :/... And if i did hit the ball it only went behind, plus the teacher would make you do until did it. What is humiliatiom supposed to teach? Friendship groups would have worked.FULL STOP.